Tip #77: From the Seminar

Yesterday, I attended Scott Kelby's "Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It" seminar. Five hundred of us were taught and entertained by Scott and his staff, as Scott went through the steps in the different processes. I learned a good deal about setting up portrait sessions with live models, product shoots, and how to retouch each of the styles. The seminar was balanced between lighting arrangements and the use of Photoshop to retouch and produce the final images. I also learned about tethered shooting and why it is important in the studio -- a two inch screen on the back of a camera is just not large enough to make good lighting decisions. I can definitely recommend attending one of Scott's seminars, if you get the chance.

As with most seminars, there was an opportunity to hear about new products coming to the market to make photo editing chores less tedius. Two vendors jumped out at me. I recomend a visit to both companies' websites.

• onOne Software and their latest product suite, and


• Topaz Labs and their latest offerings.

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Tip #76: More Organization -- HTML Tables

What if you need more than bullets and enumerations to explain a complex task? The answer may be tables. You know, rows and columns of information. Here's how you can add a table to your blog page, and, you've guessed it -- a future article will explain a complex task with lots of information. Instead of too much text, I will display the how-to in a table.

First, here's the sample table:

X	O	X
O	X	O
O	O	X

---

Next, here's the code, used to create the table:

<table border="5">
<tr>
<td>X</td> <td>O</td> <td>X</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>O</td> <td>X</td> <td>O</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>O</td> <td>O</td> <td>X</td>
</tr>
</table>

---

Tables can be useful for text as well as for images. Additional details on the use of html tables can be found at W3Schools.com.




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Tip #75: Lists on Blogs

Sometimes, when writing articles or tips or notes, you need to enumerate the steps to a solution or list bullet points to emphasize the main points of your discussion. In this collection of "how-to's" I have used both kinds of lists, and I have wondered out loud, why the blog editing tools do not have bullets and lists included. Here are examples of each and the code needed to make them. The tags are simple and differ, only, by a single letter: <ol> or <ul>:

Ordered list (enumerated):

1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.


2. Nulla semper nulla ut quam fermentum vel vulputate est ultricies.


3. Donec at diam sit amet justo fermentum pulvinar ut a nisi.

The Code:

<ol>
<li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.</li>
<li>Nulla semper nulla ut quam fermentum vel vulputate est ultricies.</li>
<li>Donec at diam sit amet justo fermentum pulvinar ut a nisi.</li>
</ol>

---

Unordered list (not numbered):

• Pellentesque quis libero vel ipsum cursus tincidunt.


• Phasellus facilisis enim id tellus ornare vestibulum.


• Nunc pretium arcu ut felis elementum ut viverra mi faucibus.

The Code:

<ul>
<li>Pellentesque quis libero vel ipsum cursus tincidunt.</li>
<li>Phasellus facilisis enim id tellus ornare vestibulum.</li>
<li>Nunc pretium arcu ut felis elementum ut viverra mi faucibus.</li>
</ul>


I hope this helps you get your points across!

Note: Here's a quick follow-up. I was working with my blog tool, blogger.com, when I realized that I always write in the "edit html" mode. When I accidentally clicked on "compose" mode, guess what I found. I found buttons to automatically add ordered and unordered lists -- imagine that. The moral of the story is, don't get stuck in a rut!

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Tip #74: Simple Masks

We all wear them. They hide what we don't want seen. The same applies to photo composites -- images made up of more than one picture. Masks can be complex or simple. They can range from merging gradients or just shapes that block-off a portion of a picture. In a recent posting, I created a triptych, using three photos, a layer for each, a mask for each layer, and a background layer. My layers were named background, top, left, and right, so I could keep track of where the photos should be placed. Why all the trouble? Well, with the different layers and their masks, I can drop photos onto the different layers without disturbing the other parts of the image. It is like stacking the different images (layers) with restricted views (masks) of the different layers.

Here are the steps.

1. Create basic layout.
   
   



2. Create mask for each portion of the image, top, left, and right.
   
   
   
   
   
   



3. Save the layers for use as a template, which can be rotated, enlarged, or used, as is, for future composites. This is usually the native file type, used by your editor; jpeg files do not save the layers, just the merged result.



4. Add each image to its own layer.
   
   



5. Add or change the background color with the flood fill tool.



6. Save the final image, merging all the layers.

Note: This example was done with Paint Shop Pro, but the steps apply to whichever layers-capable editor that you might be using.



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Tip #73: Spot Removal

Technology has changed the way we edit photos. New improvements to editors have taken some of the pain away. For instance, spot and blemish removal used to require painstaking recoloring at the pixel level. Then, the clone stamp brush was created. With this tool you copied a small region of your photo, near the spot, and you copied the similar region to overlay the spot. Again, this was tedious at best.

Modern editors now have sophisticated improvements that remove spots with a single click. You adjust the size of the brush, click on the spot to be removed, and the tool blends the spot away. When you open your editor, look for retouching tools. For example:

• In Google's Picasa the spot removal tool is called Retouch.


• In Adobe's Photoshop the tool is called Spot Healing


• In Adobe Lightroom the tool is Spot Removal


• In Nikon's Capture NX2 the tool is Auto Retouch Brush

If you care to see sample tutorials, check out www.nikonusa.com or try the Lightroom tutorial.



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Tip #72: More Photographic Training

In previous tips I have described the pros that I follow. I have provided links to their sites, and I have offered up camera maker sites that provide tutorials. I would be remiss in not pointing you to specific sites that I use to learn more about my blossoming craft.

My favorite trainer is Scott Kelby. Scott has blogs and sites that offer free and paid-for instruction. Scott also does nationwide tours. In fact, I am attending his "Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It -- Live" seminar in Austin on Monday. I am sure I will come out of that training with a whole set of skills for which I was previously unaware. I am looking forward to 8 hours with Scott.

• For starters and for free tips try KelbyTV.com


• For more in-depth, but paid-for instruction, try KelbyTraining.com


• And, if you get a chance attend one of his live seminars. I'll have more to say on this topic, next week.

Note to Boss: Yes, I am taking a vacation day.



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Tip #71: Canon Explorers of Light

Here's a link to Canon's online training opportunities.



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